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Gold/Mining/Energy : Canadian Oil & Gas Companies -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SofaSpud who wrote (7807)	11/21/2000 2:47:03 PM
From: LARRY LARSON	Respond to of 24905

Talisman to drill 3 new exploration wells in Sudan -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [ Latest News From Sudan At Sudan.Net ] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- News Article by REUTERS posted on November 21, 2000 at 01:56:11: EST (-5 GMT) Talisman to drill 3 new exploration wells in Sudan By Dann Rogers CALGARY, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Talisman Energy Inc. , Canada's biggest global oil producer, will soon drill three new exploration wells in war-plagued Sudan that could double its reserves in the African country, the company said on Monday. The Calgary company has been subject to intense scrutiny from activists who say its activities in Sudan are prolonging an 18-year civil war pitting the mainly Christian and animist black African south against the Arabised north. The south's fight for secular rule and autonomy from the Islamist-led north is complicated by tribal conflicts and factional fighting which blur the crude north-south divide. "We'll start drilling before the end of the year and if all three plays work, proven reserves could increase from 50 to 100 percent," said Nigel Hares, Talisman's vice-president of international operations. Analyst Martin Molyneaux of FirstEnergy Capital Corp. said adding low-cost oil reserves from Sudan boosts Talisman's corporate performance -- while raising the political costs. "Sudan is one of the few places in the world where you can bring lots of oil onstream quickly and inexpensively which is pipeline-connected to markets," said Molyneaux. "However, they still suffer a Sudan discount in their share price because U.S. government sanctions on Sudan make some American investors think twice about jumping into Talisman." The Clinton administration has delayed U.N. Security Council consideration on lifting sanctions against Sudan until after the U.S. presidential elections are concluded. Talisman has a 25 percent interest in the 4.9 million-hectare oil project in the Heglig region of the African country which has proven reserves of 850 million barrels. Its partners in the field, now producing about 200,000 barrels daily, are China National Petroleum Corp, Malaysia state oil company Petronas, and the Sudan government. The consortium will drill the Zafir-1 well in block 2a and the Timor-1 and Shalongo-1 wells in block 4 of its concession. All three are targeting structures about 40 to 50 million barrels in size which have the potential to increase to at least 250 million barrels each if adjoining pools contain as much oil as thought, said Hares. Four drilling rigs in Sudan are doing a mixture of development and exploration work. "We're just getting into the six months of dry season in Sudan when we have access to block 4, so we're building roads at the moment," said Hares. Any new discoveries would be shipped along the 1,500 kilometre pipeline from the oil fields to Port Sudan on the Red Sea. It has a capacity of 200,000 barrels per day that could be increased to 450,000 bpd by adding new pumping stations, the company said. Talisman added that it will begin testing the economic viability of the Timsah-1 well in block 4 within a week. "That's a well we drilled earlier this summer and it has hydrocarbon indications in it. We expect to know what's down there in about a month," said Hares. Talisman shares were off 60 Canadian cents in late-day trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange at C$48.40. They have traded between C$58.85 and C$33.50 in the past 52 weeks. ($1=$1.56 Canadian)

To: SofaSpud who wrote (7807)	11/22/2000 11:39:17 PM
From: The Fix	Respond to of 24905

URC's Third Qtr. Out. newswire.ca fIXER

To: SofaSpud who wrote (7807)	11/24/2000 1:49:44 AM
From: Richard Saunders	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24905

PSN POST - Gas band wagon - an "interesting" press release was pushed out Thursday afternoon re: 3Q numbers. isdnwire.com Press release is titled "Post's Deep Program Pays Off". I won't argue one way or the other re: that, there have been some successes. Thing that might be worth taking a little closer look at is "Production was 76% weighted to natural gas and natural gas liquids." With all the news and talk of high gas prices then that statement would almost seem like a really good thing. Careful though.......... natural gas liquids are valued completely different than natural gas. In the qtr. just completed Post received the equivalent of $38.80 per boe for natural gas ($3.88/mcf). The "natural gas liquids" obtained $29.72 per barrel and oil received $44.13 per bbl. All the prices are great if looking in the rearview mirror a year ago. Compared to peers the prices are middle of the road. Back to the percentage quote - the 76% number. Most companies convert natural gas to barrels of equivalent using 10mcf per 1 BOE. Also, most companies lump natural gas liquids (NGL) and crude oil into the "crude oil" category when describing their production split. Post's release isn't really untrue however if the percentage production split were to include the NGL in the crude part of the picture Post could be considered more a balanced producer.......... The 76% 3Q number for Post would actually become "Production was 53% weighted to natural gas." Not stated in the press release however reference to 1Q and 2Q filings show some changes in the 3Q compared to 2Q: - Revenues increased 17% - Cash Flow increased 29% - Income increased 19% - Production was flat however % gas changed from 49% in the 2Q to 53% in the 3Q. Avg. production was 4,795 boepd. - Net debt increased 1% and is now just over $39mil. More 3Q numbers: Cashflow was $22.73 per BOE Cash costs were $9.41/BOE Net Income was $9.24/BOE All relatively good numbers but the 76% natural gas comment with the newspaper headline forced a closer look.....